Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks for family, friends, and the bounty of food that this good Earth pushes out of its belly each year for us. It’s also a day, for hundreds of thousands in the country’s most populous city, to stand beneath gigantic 450-pound balloons, hoping the wind doesn’t blow the wrong way.

Rich: We're kicking off Gawker's Christmas 2014 coverage with a trip to Macy's! Where shiny red balls hang from the ceiling gently suggesting that you should start buying because Christmas is just around the corner! It's Christmas time in the city, Caity, and all I want is some fried food.

Macy's has reached an agreement with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to pay $650,000 to settle an investigation into accusations of racial profiling. Schneiderman's investigation was launched last February after several complaints were made by minority customers against the company's flagship store in Manhattan's Herald Square.

Yes, Megyn Kelly, there is a black Santa Claus — at least at the 34th St. Macy's, there is, but he's hidden away and you have to ask an elf for the "special Santa" in order to gain access to him.

Want to skip all those horrible NBC promotions and get straight to the meat? We're here to help. No cheese, no Lauer, just floats (and some Roker, king of sharts).

Former NYPD officer Jenny Mendez just wanted to get a good deal on some nice clothes last Black Friday. Instead, she got arrested, lost her job, and is now filing a lawsuit alleging that the shoplifting accusations against her were caused by racial profiling.

Tired of ignoring Donald Trump and waiting for him to fade away, activist Angelo Carusone has decided to take action — specifically, file a petition urging Macy's to sever all ties with the blowhard billionaire, effective immediately.

Last night, atop an impossibly garish neon-lit stage, television and televised commercials reached a horrible event horizon in Fashion Star, America's first primetime network show in which product placement supplants entertainment completely. It was vapid, tacky, and embarrassing.

When a blogger writes a blog post about something, that blogger will often put a "link" in the blog post that "links" to a related page on the internet. This is just part of blogging. Works pretty well. Until a massive corporation decides to actively get involved. Then, it becomes amusing.

What is Thanksgiving all about? It's about ringing in the season of conspicuous consumerism we call Christmas, right? So what better way to celebrate that than with a department store sponsored holiday tradition: The Macy's Thanksgiving balloons.

Donald Trump was all excited this morning that his suit line was debuting at Macy's. Well, it seems like it's about a step away from being on sale at Daffy's because, as Mogulite pointed out, the suits are already 70% off.

The next time you go clothes-shopping, be sure to wear your favorite opaque full-body unitard—unless you don't mind department store employees watching you while you try on outfits in the fitting rooms. The secret's in the slats, shoppers!

At a wreath-laying ceremony at Ground Zero, the 14-year-old daughter of a man who died in the Twin Towers told President Obama that she wanted to meet Justin Bieber. "I know Justin," Obama reportedly replied. "Maybe I could set something up."

During an event celebrating the launch of his new perfume at Macy's in Herald Square in New York, Justin Bieber was attacked by a crazed fan. Trouble in Teenland! The video above apparently shows the attack.

This morning we were greeted with a frightening sight. Duane Reade is already selling Christmas decorations. They're not the only ones. Stores across the U.S. are advertising holiday sales. You all need to shut up with this Christmas crap already!

[Some fake retro Madonnas shop at the launch of the singer and her daughter's clothing line, Material Girl, at Macy's in Herald Square today. Image via Getty]

Most people who show up at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade have to press up against thousands of other people to catch a glimpse of the spectacle; some have been known to turn up before sunrise to snag a choice spot. But some lucky folks got really lucky this year. Who, you ask? People like Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and hedge fund mogul Dan Loeb, that's who.

Fashion's Night Out, Anna Wintour's faux charity event to make people shop, is well underway. What's Anna up to? We followed her to the Macy's in Queens to find out. Too bad we were the only ones there for her.

• Gwyneth Paltrow is planning to give up her contract with Estée Lauder so she can focus on her website Goop.com, per the ever-reliable Daily Mail. More troubling: The paper says her plan is to "become an Oprah Winfrey-like lifestyle guru." [DM]
• Michelle Obama returned to NYC today. She attended the reopening of a wing at the Met (where she wore a coat by Isaac Mizrahi coat and sat next to Ralph Lauren, Iman, and Anna Wintour). Then it was over to opening night at the American Ballet Theater. [WWD, NYT]
• An excerpt from Lauren Conrad's debut novel has been posted online, in case you feel up to tackling some heavy literature. [Teen Vogue]
• Valentino, diplomat of fashion: "I saw the pictures of the Metropolitan gala evening last week and I never saw something more ugly." [Guardian]
• Speaking of Valentino, Time Out's current issue tests out self-tanners. [TONY]

• Rachel Roy has a new line—and it's one even her soon-to-be ex-husband should be able to afford: Roy is introducing a lower-priced collection for Macy's that she's named Rachel-Rachel Roy. [Shophound]
• Besties Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss and Charlotte Ronson are teaming up on a line called Shoshanna Made With Love Charlotte Ronson. [WWD]
• What does Karl Lagerfeld look like the morning? He'll fill you in: "I look like a madman, like something out of a horror movie!" [Fashionologie]
• "Bread-line chic" is all the rage these days. [NYT]